Stevenson's Lake County title sets school history

About a week ago, Stevenson High School installed a new board listing its girls swimming achievements.

After Monday's impressive performance, the board already needs an update.

That's because the Patriots won the Lake County meet for the first time in school history.

When the swimming portion of the meet at Barrington concluded, the Patriots held a 1-point lead over the host Fillies. Diving took place simultaneously at Deerfield, a schedule quirk caused by the Yom Kippur holiday Saturday.

But once those scores came in, with Kerrin Seymour (352.10) winning and Sam Stenn (324.15) a strong fifth, the Patriots had 315 points to win the meet, ahead of Barrington (295), Lake Forest (210) and Libertyville (161).

"Coming into the meet, with it being on a Monday, we were a little leery of where our times were going to be," said Stevenson coach Karl Milkereit. "But we had a lot of real good times. Our usual people did a great job, but it wasn't just them. A lot of second and third spots came up big too."

Per usual, Stevenson seniors Ashley Wanland and Martha VanLieshout each picked up two individual wins. Wanland won the 200-yard individual medley and the 100 breaststroke, with times of 2: 08.49 and 1:03.11, respectively.

VanLieshout topped the 200 freestyle (1:55.85) and 500 freestyle (5:08.34).

Tori Alland placed second in both those races, with a 1:57.27 in the 200 and 5:10.80 in the 500. In the latter, Michelle Pliskin (5:20.13) pulled ahead late against Barrington's Sara Fogle to give Stevenson the top three finishers in the event.

"We knew looking at the heat sheet that that's how the race could fall," Milkereit said. "We told Michelle 'you're going to be in this no man's land' because we didn't think the people to her left would push her and we knew Sara Fogle would be right there. We told her to keep an eye that way, look at us, and that's exactly what it came down to. Really, the swimming part of tonight came down to that finish."

Other top Stevenson performers included April McKee in the 50 freestyle (fifth, 25.43) and 100 butterfly (second, 59.58), Melanie Koto in the 100 freestyle (fifth, 55.95), Christina O'Connell in the 100 butterfly (1:01.17) and Erin Cunningham in the 100 backstroke (1:01.58). The Pats won the 400 freestyle relay (3:39.67), while its second-place finishes in the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays were season-best times.

Host Barrington won four events, including both the 200 medley (1:50.59) and 200 freestyle (1:40.83) relays. Kim Steelman decisively won both the 50 freestyle ( 24.85) and 100 freestyle (53.87), taking the latter by more than a second.

"She did a real nice job, and that 100 was a season best," Barrington coach Jim Bart. "She did a nice job anchoring our two relays, and she's swimming well."

Alexa Hamilton took second in the IM (2:11.72) and third in the breaststroke (1:06.33). Emily Fogle was second in the breaststroke (1:05.50) and third in the 50 freestyle ( 25.26). Sara Fogle and Sam Simon also delivered top-five finishes for the Fillies.

"We're starting to come along real nice," Bart said. "We had some holes to fill earlier in the year, and they're getting filled. Our younger swimmers have really stepped up and done a nice job for us. "

Vernon Hills was the only other team to win an event, thanks to Melanie Rowland. The sophomore won a close 100 butterfly (58.67) and won the backstroke (1: 00.89), which she'd only swum once this season.

"For some of our kids, it's their sixth meet in four days, so we haven't been able to get much training in," said Cougars coach Kedric Greenawalt, whose team finished eighth with 73.5 points. "With all these meets in the way, it's not healthy for me to hit them really hard at practice, especially since a lot of them are hurting.

"So under the circumstances, Melanie is swimming phenomenally. She did way better today than she did two weeks ago, and she's not in great shape yet, so she'll be scary when she's in shape."

Libertyville used its depth to finish fourth, with good performances from Whitney Mitchell in the IM (third, 2:14.08) and 100 freestyle (sixth, 55.99), its 200 freestyle relay (third, 1:45.52), Dana Davidsen in the breaststroke (fourth, 1:10.03) and diver Brittany Tazzioli (340.05).

"We had a couple surprising swims, especially from our freshman/sophomore group," said Wildcats coach Greg Herman. "We've been pounded away all September, against some of the best teams around. I think they're a little discouraged, but they realize they can swim with these teams, and these are some of the best teams in the state of Illinois. Now we have the month of October to focus on ourselves, see what we can do, so when we see these guys in November we'll hopefully be able to stand up to them and compete with them."

Mundelein finished sixth with 88 points, as divers Polly Hirt (second, 346.30) and Taylor Reckert (fourth, 326.35) moved the team up two spots in the standings. Warren placed seventh with 78 points, with top-10 finishes by Kristen O'Connor in the 100 freestyle (10 th, 57.89) and Ally Caleworth in the 100 backstroke (third, 1:03.10) and 50 freestyle (10th, 26.57)